African Political Analysis Think-Tank Vignettes

By 1963, Uganda, Kenya, Tunisia, Zambia, Namibia, Nigeria and Zimbabwe (to name a few) were on the path to industrialization, however this met with a stasis and degeneration. Yet, they had the potential to do and be industrialized by the 80's which would have led to more opportunities to initiate, sustain and improve human capital development .  This essay is a general attempt to show why the situation turned out that way and a way forward is posited. Experts argue that  "Africa’s post-independence leaders – like many developing country policy makers in the 1960s and 1970s – looked to industrialization as the key to rapid economic growth. But, the state-led, import substituting industries they created were frequently unsustainable, and efforts to spur industrial development in Africa largely vanished in the 1980’s. While the last two decades of the 20th Century were boom times for industry in low and middle income countries; industry was moving out of Africa....

Perhaps nine reasons will suffice. The first reason to account for this is the continued extraction, repatriation, harvesting and stripping of so much valuable but limited resources from Africa for so many years in form of timber, minerals, people and animals without judicious use, regeneration, reinvestment, replanting or use of better conservation methods. The second is atrophy in that the Europeans and the West deployed all forms of materiel to denigrate Africa thus making her submissive in all spheres and her capacity to compete rendered next to impossible. The third is low diffusion of development consciousness which is a barrier to development. Not many Africans are so eager to embrace industrialization or development projects because: their buy-in is not sought; destruction of nature (including ancestral grounds, rivers, forests, wildlife and other forms of vegetation); it is still difficult to deal with waste and refuse from processing raw materials. With Afric...

This region had what was known as North and South Rhodesia. North Rhodesia became Zambia, Zimbabwe became South Rhodesia or simply Rhodesia.  It is said that Rhodesia was the  jewel of Africa  before it became Zambia and Zimbabwe.  But why would a jewel end up split into two different countries and Blacks agitated for independence after over 70 years living under the leadership of Whites? To the white Rhodesians, Black Africans were a "fog of war." There are durable development outcomes that non-Whites achieved after interacting with Whites who came with an incentivized goodwill disposition.  However, consciousness of exploitation, disaffection and the desire for fullest citizenship among those considered as "inferiors" led to war against "superiors" who expected deferment. The Christian teaching of 'turning the other cheek' or having heads bowed in supplication made no sense while one's livelihood suffered.  Democratization and stat...

Institutionalization In order to consolidate independence and sovereignty, states have to facilitate and aspire toward continuity of sectors delivering services to people as well as good governance at state or regional levels. This is what consolidates institutionalization. This in turn promotes judicious use of resources, exchange of goods, investment opportunities and trade agreements in all 8 countries, e.g., DRC, Tunisia, Kenya, Namibia, Nigeria, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe. This in turn increases involvement in self determination activities.  Outcomes Institutionalization improves and ensures both human and state development are moving and meeting targets. It also enables states to commit to development targets such as  the UN's Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). These goals provide a direction on:  no poverty zero hunger health and wellbeing quality education gender equality clean water and sanitation affordable and clean energy decent...